Al-Mashat: Parliament Approves 2 Agreements with EBRD, FDA

Minister of International Cooperation Dr. Rania Al-Mashat announced that the House of Representatives has approved two agreements with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the French Development Agency (FDA) worth around €336 million.

The agreements aim to strengthen the Egyptian electricity network and finance development policies to achieve the 2030 National Agenda and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the International Cooperation Ministry said in a statement on Saturday.

Al-Mashat added that these agreements are particularly significant as 2020 has been regarded as a critical year in fighting climate change, as the world’s best scientists have warned that there must be further coordinated and comprehensive efforts to avoid the most extreme scenarios of climate change in the next few years.

The agreements help achieve multiple SDGs simultaneously: Goal 7 to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all, Goal 9 to promote industry and innovation, Goal 12 to promote responsible production and consumption, and Goal 17 to form partnerships to achieve the goals.

Al-Mashat added that the first agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will provide 182.9 million euros to strengthen Egypt’s electricity network through the construction and improvement of 5 substations in several governorates such as South Sinai, Eastern, Port Said, Assiut, and Minya, as well as providing a grant of €150,000 for the Egyptian Electricity Transmission to support internal capacity building.

She added that Egypt has been a member of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development since its establishment in 1991, with investments in Egypt’s development amounting to more than 7 billion euros in 120 projects in the country since 2012.

To maximize impact, the Minister of International Cooperation additionally signed an agreement with the French Development Agency, which to provide financing for an amount of €150 million to implement reforms in electricity, in addition to a grant of one million euros for three years to push the 2030 national sustainability agenda forward, which was adopted by the government in October 2016.

It aims to enhance the financial sustainability, management, and operational efficiency of the energy sector, and support the use of renewable energy to unlock Egypt’s green transformation.

The ministry has been playing an active role in uniting and mobilizing all stakeholders to support Egypt’s development, which comes under the “Global Partnerships for Effective Development Cooperation” multi-stakeholder platform that was launched in April 2020.

The platform aims to introduce a new form of international cooperation in the context of the events of 2020, centralizing knowledge sharing, collective solidarity, equality among all partners, and coordinated action to achieve maximized results.

It is worth noting that the current cooperation portfolio between Egypt and France amounts to around one billion euros in the sectors of transport, electricity, small and medium enterprises, housing, utilities, urban development, agriculture, health, environment, and budget support.

Also, Egypt had signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic partnerships with the French Development Agency during 2019, according to which the agency provides one billion euros to support development projects from 2019-2023.